Philippine History
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100 free Philippine History trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The history of the Philippines runs from a 900 CE copperplate and a datu who turned back Magellan's landing party, through 333 years of Spanish rule and the galleons that tied Manila to Acapulco, to a revolution lit by two novels, a republic that lasted two years, a half-century of American rule, the Bataan Death March, and a four-day people's revolution on a Manila avenue. It is taught in every Filipino classroom as araling panlipunan, and it rewards anyone who pays attention to the details. These 100 questions cover the sweep: Tabon Man and Homo luzonensis, Lapulapu and Legazpi, Urdaneta's return route, the Suez Canal and the ilustrados, Gomburza, José Rizal's exile, execution and hidden farewell poem, Bonifacio's Katipunan and the Cry of Pugad Lawin, the Tejeros Convention, Dewey at Manila Bay, the June 12 proclamation at Kawit, Marcela Agoncillo's flag and Julián Felipe's march, the Treaty of Paris, Malolos and Mabini, Aguinaldo's capture at Palanan, the Tydings–McDuffie Act and Quezon, Tagalog in 1937, Bataan, the Battle of Manila, Leyte Gulf, Roxas, Magsaysay and the Huks, Proclamation 1081, Ninoy at the airport, EDSA, Hawaii and Cory Aquino. Easy questions stick to Magellan, Rizal and People Power; the hardest ask about the Laguna Copperplate, Kalayaan and the Flag Act of 1907. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss. Play it solo or print it for a classroom or family quiz night.
30 of 100 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which explorer's expedition made the first documented European arrival, sighting Samar in March 1521?
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan. He never finished the voyage: six weeks later he was killed in a fight on Mactan, and Elcano brought the last ship home to Spain.
Q 02Which datu of Mactan defeated the Spanish expedition on the beach in April 1521?
Lapulapu
Lapulapu. He refused to bow to Spain or to its new ally, Rajah Humabon of Cebu, so the expedition's captain landed on Mactan to force him and was killed in the fight.
Q 03Who led the 1565 expedition that founded the first permanent Spanish settlement, in Cebu?
Miguel López de Legazpi
Miguel López de Legazpi. He held Cebu through a Portuguese blockade in 1568, then moved north and founded Manila as the colony's capital in 1571.
Q 04Whose 1543 expedition gave Leyte and Samar the name 'Las Islas Filipinas', honoring a Spanish prince?
Ruy López de Villalobos
Ruy López de Villalobos. Some accounts credit one of his captains with coining the name, and the voyage itself ended in disaster.
Q 05When Spanish forces took Maynila in 1571, its rulers followed which religion?
Islam
Islam. Maynila was a walled Muslim settlement whose ruler taxed trade on the Pasig River; the Spanish destroyed it and raised the fortress city of Intramuros on the site.
Q 06Which Augustinian friar pioneered the tornaviaje, the return sailing route from the Philippines to Mexico, in 1565?
Andrés de Urdaneta
Andrés de Urdaneta. He swung far north to catch winds blowing back toward America, and Manila's galleons followed that high arc across the Pacific for 250 years.
Q 07The Manila galleons sailed between Manila and which Mexican port?
Acapulco
Acapulco. The yearly galleon unloaded Chinese silk and porcelain there and sailed home heavy with Mexican silver, the lifeline of Spanish Manila.
Q 08What event ended the Manila galleon trade in 1815?
The Mexican War of Independence
The galleons had carried Asian luxury goods west and New World silver east for 250 years, mostly crewed by Filipino natives.
Q 09What does the Laguna Copperplate Inscription of 900 CE, the earliest known dated Philippine document, record?
A debt being forgiven
A debt being forgiven. It clears a man named Namwaran and his family of a debt in gold; a man dredging river sand found the plate, and a dealer who could not sell it passed it to the National Museum.
Q 10Tabon Man, among the earliest human remains found in the Philippines, was unearthed in caves on which island?
Palawan
Palawan. A National Museum team under Robert Fox dug the Tabon Caves in the 1960s, and despite the name, the famous skullcap is thought to be a woman's.
Q 11The human species Homo luzonensis was named in 2019 from bones found in which cave?
Callao Cave
Callao Cave. One foot bone found there in 2007 could not be placed; twelve more bones and teeth then showed a mix of ancient and modern features seen in no other human species.
Q 12The opening of which canal in 1869 cut travel time to Spain and helped create the ilustrado class?
Suez
Suez. With Spain easier to reach and export fortunes growing, wealthy families sent their sons to study in Europe, where they launched the reformist Propaganda Movement.
Q 13Gomburza refers to three priests executed by garrote in 1872 after which uprising?
The Cavite mutiny
Q 21During the Cry of Pugad Lawin in August 1896, what did Katipuneros tear up in defiance of Spain?
Their tax certificates
Their tax certificates. The cédula marked its holder as a subject of Spain, so ripping it up was a public break with the crown; where and on which August day it happened is still disputed.
Q 22Which 1897 assembly elected Emilio Aguinaldo president in absentia, splitting the revolution?
The Tejeros Convention
The Tejeros Convention. It voted in Aguinaldo while he was away at the front, and the Katipunan's Supremo declared the proceedings void and walked out.
Q 23Under the December 1897 Pact of Biak-na-Bato, Aguinaldo and other leaders went into exile where?
Hong Kong
The Cavite mutiny. Some 200 troops and arsenal workers rose in a brief revolt, but the governor used it to try three reformist priests, whose execution made them martyrs of the nationalist cause.
Q 14What does the Latin title of Rizal's 1887 novel Noli Me Tángere mean?
Touch me not
Touch me not. The words come from John's Gospel, and the novel's exposure of the evils of Spanish rule got it banned in the Philippines, where copies had to be smuggled in.
Q 15To which town on Mindanao was Rizal banished in 1892?
Dapitan
Dapitan. He spent four years in exile there and had no part in the 1896 uprising, yet he was arrested, tried for sedition and shot.
Q 16On what date was Rizal executed at Bagumbayan?
December 30, 1896
December 30, 1896. The date is now Rizal Day, a national holiday, and his death by firing squad convinced many Filipinos that there was no alternative to independence from Spain.
Q 17Where was Rizal's farewell poem 'Mi último adiós' hidden before being passed to his family?
In an alcohol stove
In an alcohol stove. Rizal left the poem untitled; the name it carries today was added by others after his death.
Q 18Founded in 1892, the Katipunan modeled its secret initiation rites on those of which society?
The Freemasons
The Freemasons. Recruits were led in blindfolded and put through ordeals, and the society ran in total secrecy as a shadow government with its own president and cabinet.
Q 19Who was the Katipunan's Supremo, often called the Father of the Philippine Revolution?
Andrés Bonifacio
Andrés Bonifacio. Largely self-taught, he worked as a messenger and warehouse keeper, and in 1897 a rival revolutionary government had him tried for treason and executed.
Q 20What was the name of the Katipunan's short-lived newspaper, printed only in March 1896?
Kalayaan
Kalayaan. The name means 'Freedom'; that August, Spanish friars uncovered the society's plans and its leaders were forced into revolt before they were ready.
Hong Kong. Spain paid the exiles to leave for good, but neither side kept the bargain: Aguinaldo spent the money on arms and was back within months to resume the fight.
Q 24Which American commodore destroyed the Spanish squadron at Manila Bay on May 1, 1898?
George Dewey
George Dewey. Ordered to attack the Spanish fleet, he slipped past the island forts at the mouth of the bay around midnight and struck at first light.
Q 25Which order opened the 1898 Battle of Manila Bay?
You may fire when ready, Gridley
'You may fire when ready, Gridley.' The order went to the flagship's captain at about 5:40 a.m.; within hours the Spanish squadron was destroyed, at almost no cost to the American one.
Q 26Where was Philippine independence proclaimed on June 12, 1898?
Kawit, Cavite
Kawit, Cavite. The ceremony was held at Aguinaldo's own family home, but neither Spain nor the United States recognized the declaration, and one colonial ruler simply replaced the other.
Q 27Who sewed the first Philippine flag, unfurled at the 1898 proclamation?
Marcela Agoncillo
Marcela Agoncillo. She stitched Aguinaldo's design while her family lived abroad in exile, helped by her daughter Lorenza and by Delfina Herbosa, a niece of José Rizal.
Q 28Who composed the music of 'Lupang Hinirang', the national anthem, in 1898?
Julián Felipe
Julián Felipe. He wrote it as a march with no words, first played at the 1898 independence ceremony; José Palma's Spanish poem 'Filipinas' was fitted to the tune a year later.
Q 29What do the sun's rays on the Philippine flag originally represent?
The first provinces to rebel
The first provinces to rebel. Eight rays mark the eight provinces where the 1896 revolt broke out, and by law the flag is flown with its red stripe on top when the country is at war.
Q 30How much did the United States pay Spain for the Philippines under the 1898 Treaty of Paris?
$20 million
$20 million. The sum was nominally for Spain's public buildings and works in the islands; Filipinos had already declared independence, and fighting with their new rulers soon followed.